Motivated by watching his sibling, Kenny Boynton Jr. gave basketball a try in the sixth grade. "I was always around it," Boynton said of watching his older brother, Deondre, play in a church league. "I used to go outside every day. We got an outside goal, and I used to shoot every day. By the ninth grade, I knew my game had gotten a little better. " A little better is an understatement. Now a senior-to-be at American Heritage High (Fla.), Boynton is one of the headliners at the Reebok All-American Camp at Philadelphia University.

Brandon Bell said he wasn't much of a Penn State football fan as a youngster. But he always knew one thing about the Nittany Lions. "That's Linebacker U," said Bell, who will be a senior in the fall at Oakcrest High School in Mays Landing, N.J. He is the first linebacker in the class of 2013 to commit to Penn State. The 6-foot-1, 220-pound Bell, a three-star recruit by rivals.com and scout.com, said he made up his mind to commit to Penn State after making his second visit to State College last week.

The struggling United Football League announced Wednesday that it will play a shorter season with four teams instead of five with the Hartford (Conn.) Colonials suspending operations. The UFL, which has lost more than $100 million it its first two years, said it will play a condensed regular-season schedule starting Sept. 15. Without Hartford, the second-tier pro league is left with teams in Omaha, Neb.; Norfolk, Va.; Las Vegas; and Sacramento, Calif. Each team will play six regular-season games instead of eight.

Cousins P.J. Walker and Jihaad Pretlow simultaneously gave oral commitments Friday to play football at Temple. Walker, a quarterback at Elizabeth High School (N.J.), and Pretlow, a running back at Blair Academy (N.J.), became the Owls' sixth and seventh commitments for the Class of 2013. "We talked about it, and we thought about it, and we pretty much planned it together," Pretlow told Scout.com about the rising seniors' joint announcement. "We want to help Temple take off and take the Big East by storm.

Penn State added one of the top offensive tackle prospects in the country Sunday when junior Dorian Johnson became the 12th member of the Nittany Lions' recruiting class for 2013, according to recruiting websites. Johnson, from Belle Vernon, Pa., has been on campus many times, but visited with his family this weekend. He planned to stay close to home and chose Penn State over Pittsburgh. He lives about three hours from State College. Among his other offers were Alabama, Michigan State, Notre Dame and Wisconsin.

Going into his junior season of high school, Michael Gilchrist is regarded as the nation's top college basketball prospect. Many believe the Somerdale resident's college of choice is Kentucky. After all, Gilchrist, who commutes almost every day from Somerdale in Camden County to St. Patrick's High School in Elizabeth, N.J., revealed he wanted to play for John Calipari at Memphis two years ago. In April, Calipari became the head coach at Kentucky. And since Gilchrist's uncle, William Wesley, and Calipari are close friends, he's a lock to sign with Kentucky, right?

When Penn State fans heard Bill O'Brien say he would complete his duties with the New England Patriots before he moved full-time into the head coach's office, they thought this would put the Nittany Lions at a disadvantage with undecided high school recruits. But what they found out was that television loves a good story, and the CBS announcers made frequent mentions of O'Brien, the Patriots' offensive coordinator, and his new job at Penn State during Saturday night's telecast of the AFC divisional playoff between New England and Denver.

INTER MILAN and Telecom Italia have reportedly been ordered to pay Christian Vieri 1 million euros ($1.26 million) in damages for spying on the player through phone taps. The ANSA news agency and the Gazzetta dello Sport report that a Milan court made the decision Monday. Vieri filed a lawsuit against his former club and Telecom for a combined 21 million euros ($26 million) in damages 5 years ago, after word leaked that they had spied on him to monitor his life off the pitch.

It's obvious that Steve Addazio doesn't seek analysts' input when it comes to recruiting. "They don't really have a character meter," the Temple football coach said of recruiting analysts at Temple's national signing day news conference Wednesday. "All they do is have some guy running around, looking at some highlight tape. Maybe a guy goes to a combine and runs real fast. That's great. I'm not knocking it. " To prove that evaluations can be inaccurate, Addazio sought out Eagles safety Jaiquawn Jarrett, who was in attendance.

The Penn State football recruiting express continues to roll along with the Nittany Lions holding down the No. 2 spot in the Class of 2015 rankings by a consensus of recruiting websites. First-year coach James Franklin picked up his 14th and 15th oral commitments Tuesday night in offensive tackle Sterling Jenkins of Pittsburgh and quarterback Brandon Wimbush of Jersey City, N.J. The 6-foot-8, 305-pound Jenkins, from Baldwin High School, is ranked by 247 Sports as the top high school football player in Pennsylvania.

Richy Anderson , a running back from Frederick, Md., who is the son of former Penn State star Richie Anderson, has made an oral commitment to Nittany Lions coach Bill O'Brien to join his freshman Class of 2013, several recruiting websites have reported. The 5-foot-11, 180-pound Anderson, who plays for Gov. Thomas Johnson High School, is rated as a three-star recruit by both Scout.com and Rivals.com. He is Penn State's 12th commitment for 2013. Anderson had committed to Maryland in June but reconsidered after being contacted by Penn State in September.

INTER MILAN and Telecom Italia have reportedly been ordered to pay Christian Vieri 1 million euros ($1.26 million) in damages for spying on the player through phone taps. The ANSA news agency and the Gazzetta dello Sport report that a Milan court made the decision Monday. Vieri filed a lawsuit against his former club and Telecom for a combined 21 million euros ($26 million) in damages 5 years ago, after word leaked that they had spied on him to monitor his life off the pitch.

It's a warmer-than-normal November Saturday afternoon in Philadelphia. The Temple Owls are gathered at beautiful Lincoln Financial Field to play Cincinnati in a game that could have huge Big East Conference implications. But if averages hold up, there will be fewer than 24,000 fans inside a 69,000-seat stadium. And what kind of scene is that for a team expecting different results in its second go-round in the Big East? Sunday marks Temple's first official day back in the conference as a football member after five years as a football-only member of the Mid-American Conference.

Penn State added one of the top offensive tackle prospects in the country Sunday when junior Dorian Johnson became the 12th member of the Nittany Lions' recruiting class for 2013, according to recruiting websites. Johnson, from Belle Vernon, Pa., has been on campus many times, but visited with his family this weekend. He planned to stay close to home and chose Penn State over Pittsburgh. He lives about three hours from State College. Among his other offers were Alabama, Michigan State, Notre Dame and Wisconsin.

Cousins P.J. Walker and Jihaad Pretlow simultaneously gave oral commitments Friday to play football at Temple. Walker, a quarterback at Elizabeth High School (N.J.), and Pretlow, a running back at Blair Academy (N.J.), became the Owls' sixth and seventh commitments for the Class of 2013. "We talked about it, and we thought about it, and we pretty much planned it together," Pretlow told Scout.com about the rising seniors' joint announcement. "We want to help Temple take off and take the Big East by storm.

Brandon Bell said he wasn't much of a Penn State football fan as a youngster. But he always knew one thing about the Nittany Lions. "That's Linebacker U," said Bell, who will be a senior in the fall at Oakcrest High School in Mays Landing, N.J. He is the first linebacker in the class of 2013 to commit to Penn State. The 6-foot-1, 220-pound Bell, a three-star recruit by rivals.com and scout.com, said he made up his mind to commit to Penn State after making his second visit to State College last week.

Concerned Temple football fans need to chill, according to one recruiting analyst. It's too early to panic because Temple doesn't have a commitment for the Class of 2013, said Bob Lichtenfels, the East regional manager for Scout.com recruiting service. Judging by last summer, Lichtenfels may be on to something. Temple didn't get its first commitment for the Class of 2012 until May 27, 2011. By July 11, the Owls had secured 21. But some Temple fans believe the expectations are now higher, considering the team is going into the Big East Conference.